The present invention relates to an automatic apparatus for retracting and flattening a fire hose.
In the field of fire fighting, it is well known that one of the most difficult tasks after the fire has been extinguished is to retract a long fire hose and put it back in the fire engine in a folded condition. The difficulties in carrying out this task relate to the length of the hose, the weight of the hose and the water and air that is remaining in the hose which adds to its weight and bulk.
Thus, in order to fold and arrange the hose in the fire engine, it is necessary for the firemen to squeeze the air and water out of the hose manually to get it into a flat condition and thereafter pull the hose onto the truck while folding same.
The manual operation of folding a 1500 foot fire hose generally involves six men and approximately 45 minutes of time.
An automatic fire hose retraction apparatus has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,038 wherein the fire hose is flattened and retracted by two spring biased rollers through which the hose is pulled.
A disadvantage of this prior art system is the difficulty it has with hose couplings. Because the hose couplings must be pulled through these rollers a great deal of force is necessary on the one hand, and on the other hand, during the separation of the squeezing rollers air and water is permitted to be forced through the hose thus filling the portion already squeezed.